Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)(95)

“Why did you choose that tattoo?”

I glance away and blow out air through my lips. There are some secrets that are mine and mine alone. Why can’t Ryan work with me?

Why can’t he let me give him this night? I lean up and kiss his lips. Ryan presses back, but he keeps the exchange short. I flop back on the bed. “You’re straight, right?”

Ryan chuckles. “Very.” And to prove his point he makes my toes curl when he skims a finger in the narrow valley between my br**sts, down my stomach, and plays with the edge of my low-rise jeans. “I’m dying right now.”

I refuse to give him the satisfaction of closing my eyes in pleasure. There should be another badge in that for me. “Then why are we talking?”

“What do you know about me?” he asks.

I shrug. “A lot.”

“Tell me some of it.”

Oookaaay. “You love baseball and writing. Your g*y brother can kick most guys’ asses.”

Ryan laughs and I smile. I love his laughter.

It reminds me of music.

An ache darkens his eyes and his hand stops flirting with the elastic of my underwear. “You know a lot more than that.”

“I do.” I link my fingers with his and wish I could take his pain. I know his parents hate each other and that this trip is an attempt to save their marriage. They won’t divorce, but it’s an attempt to rekindle the flame. I also know that watching his family fall apart is killing Ryan.

More importantly, beyond all the hurt that pricks at him, I know that I bring a smile to his face and I know that he loves me.

“I know very little about you and I want to know everything.”

And we’re done. “You know plenty.” He knows enough. I roll away and reach for my shirt on the pillow beside him. Ryan snatches it and tosses it across the room. “You’re not running from me anymore, Beth.”

Hot anger courses through my bloodstream.

“I’m not running. I thought we were going to enjoy each other tonight and obviously you’re not up for it.”

“Tell me about your dad.” Ryan stays lazily stretched on the bed while I straighten my spine by his pillows. How can he be so arrogant as to think he deserves answers from me?

“That is none of your business.” That’s no one’s business.

“Come on. Tell me something. Tell me about your mom.” His voice becomes taunting and I curl my legs into my chest.

“Her name is Sky.” There, I gave him something.

“You can do better.” Anger creeps into his patient tone. “Tell me why Scott won’t let you see her. Tell me something. Anything. You told me once that you aren’t scared of anything.

Right now I see a liar, because you’re terrified.”

My head snaps up. “Fuck you.”

Ryan doesn’t flinch. “Tell me why you’re back in Groveton. Why aren’t you still in Louisville with your mom?”

“I was arrested, all right?” My pulse thunders at every pressure point in my body.

Will this be it? The final blow that pushes him from me? Three days. I have three days until I leave and this is not how tonight was supposed to go.

Not expecting that answer, Ryan’s eyebrows furrow together. Nausea spins in my stomach.

He’s judging me. I know it. Ryan grabs hold of my ankle before I can step onto the floor. “You already know my opinion on running. What were you arrested for?”

Sweat breaks out on my skin. I can imagine the thoughts in his head and his impending judgment. “Does it matter?”

He loosens his grip as his fingers slowly slide up my leg and massage my calf through the material of my jeans. “I don’t care who you were in Louisville because I’m in love with the girl you are now.”

Love. That word from him makes my heart flutter and my head hurt. “Then why do you want to know?”

“Because I want you to trust me.”

Blah. Trust. “I’m half-naked on your bed. We could be doing so many other things.”

The right side of Ryan’s mouth quirks up.

“And if you tell me, maybe we’ll get around to those things.”

I pull my hair forward. What do I tell him?

The official story or the real story? He told me about his brother and his parents. I can trust him with this. “My mom broke out the windows of her ass**le boyfriend’s car after he hit her. He was going to hit her again, so I picked up the bat and was swinging it over my shoulder to hit him when the cops showed.

Mom is on probation, so I took the fall for the destruction of property. My aunt called Scott to bail me out so…” I wave my hand in the air. “Here I am.”

Silence. I hate silence. Silence means thinking and thinking means judgment.

Ryan edges closer to me and flips my hair from my face. “You let the police arrest you instead of your mom?”

Missing my shirt, I draw my knees back up.

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Beth.” I hear the tense hesitation in his voice. “What you did is admirable, but it’s not normal. You shouldn’t have to take the fall for your mom. You shouldn’t have to pick up a baseball bat to defend her…or anyone.”

He straightens and I watch as our trip into Louisville clicks into place. “In fact, you shouldn’t even be taking care of your mom.